Molecular Mimicry and Long COVID
Molecular Mimicry and Long COVID
Medicine´s new frontier.
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Today´s sections:
1.0 What is Molecular Mimicry and Why Does it Matter?
2.0 Molecular Mimicry Likely Causes Long Covid
1.0 What is Molecular Mimicry and Why Does it Matter?
Molecular mimicry happens when the immune system gets tricked.
Today, I want to share with you one of the more profoundly impactful things I have learned about in the field of biology: molecular mimicry, a fascinating mechanism that begins to explain some mysterious illnesses that haunt humanity today, like Multiple Sclerosis and other autoimmune conditions, likely including Long COVID. It opens the doors to a whole new world of molecular medicine.
Why I am looking into this, you may be wondering? Because on the one hand, biology is going to take over our economy in the coming decades. As I have written about plenty of times, we have figured out how to read, edit and write genetic code, the code that underpins all life forms. The more we learn about it, the better, so we can catch the “bio-Googles” of the world early.
Also, because I will rarely take no for an answer. The general acceptance that the body randomly decides to start attacking itself is something I am drawn to. How can an organism that is designed to live suddenly do that and how can doctors just accept it relatively blindly? Something has always seemed off here and the same goes for Long COVID.
This is the sort of unsatisfying, superficial consensus that I am naturally drawn to both in science and in the markets.
So what is molecular mimicry? In short, and as you may know, when the body detects a foreign protein, it will create antibodies to neutralize it. The antibody for a given protein effectively has the inverse shape, so that it binds to the target protein via electromagnetic attraction rendering it functionless inside the body.
Now, molecular mimicry happens when bits of the foreign protein in question are similar to proteins inside the body. Say, for instance, that we have protein X that has 4 bits that are similar to proteins found in the lungs. When this protein enters the body in whatever form, the body / immune system creates antibodies against it, but also against the 4 proteins found in the lungs.
In effect, as the body fights off the foreign protein, it fights itself. What does this have to do with the mysterious Multiple Sclerosis and other autoimmune conditions then? Far more than we ever imagined.
There is a virus known as the Epstein-Barr virus, which essentially 99% of the population contracts at some point in their lives. This virus lingers around the body for a long time, despite the immune system´s best efforts. Effectively, the immune system produces antibodies against the virus, but check this out:
“The team went on to show that about 25% of MS patients had antibodies to a specific part of the viral EBNA1 protein, amino acids 365-425. Those antibodies cross-reacted with GlialCAM, which is expressed by cells of the myelin sheath that enables high-speed neuronal communication and is damaged in MS.”- Bioworld.com
There is still much to figure out, but it seems that by attempting to fight off the EB virus, the body is attacking a protein that serves a key function in the nervous system - the part of the body that gets severely damaged by EBV. There seems to be plenty of variants of EBV and environmental factors also seem to play a big role, so we must be prudent in this space.
However, on its own, the study that the cited article mentions is a breakthrough. Yet, in juxtaposition with the anecdotal evidence that I have been reading over the past three years, it is but a coherent step forward in addressing these mystery illnesses (Medical Medium, Dr. Terry Wahls, Dr. Mark Hyman).
According to these pioneers, people seem to heal from these illnesses when they get out of their body´s way, by essentially lowering inflammation. The Western diet is fundamentally inflammatory and in fact, researching $HIMS (deep dive coming up), I have found that 6/10 people in American struggle with one chronic condition - 4/10 struggle with two. Wonder why?
Now, onto an even more generally applicable topic.
2.0 Molecular Mimicry Likely Causes Long Covid
This has not been accepted across the medical domain yet, but it seems likely to me per the data that I expose below.
According to this study he virus has a high cross reactivity with human proteins - the S protein has lots of bits (peptides) that are similar in shape to peptides found within Homo sapiens, as you can see in the graph below. I am yet to check if more so that the Flu, for instance, but I wouldn´t be surprised if so per the deltas in their respective symptomatic pictures.
Now, the S protein seems to share peptides with specific organs. One of them is the female reproductive system. In the past few years, I have seen plenty of woman have their periods disrupted after the S protein has made it into their bodies in some way or another and this mechanism explains what I have seen. I am frustrated to hear of many doctors that have no clue of what is going on and are quite dismissive of the topic.
According to this study:
“SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein was found to share 41 minimal immune determinants, that is, pentapeptides, with 27 human proteins that relate to oogenesis, uterine receptivity, decidualization, and placentation. All the shared pentapeptides that we identified, with the exception of four, are also present in SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein-derived epitopes that have been experimentally validated as immunoreactive.” -
Generally, the different parts of the body that you hear people complaining about after the S protein makes it into their body in one way or another coincide with the peptide cross reactivity map. We are presented with a rather mechanistic looking picture in this sense.
It follows that the enemy we have been dealing with over the past few years is plausibly acting a deeper level in the proteome than we previously thought. Viruses per se are not “bad”. They are programmed to replicate inside our bodies and that indeed damages our cellular machinery, which causes most of the symptoms.
This that I am explaining above, however, is a whole different ballgame. We are faced with a virus that seems to be a molecular mimicry rocket and for this reason, we must invest heavily to understand the mechanism and learn how to deactivate it. It seems that Long COVID is causes by the virus lingering inside the body after infection, much like EBV.
To learn from an actual expert about the topic, listen to Amy Proal:
Until next time!
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